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'Underdog' cartoon co-creator dies at 85

The Associated Press

Posted:
02/15/2013 08:56:09 AM EST

Updated:
02/15/2013 10:23:06 AM EST

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FILE - In this July 30, 2007 file photo, William Watts Biggers arrives for the premiere of the "Underdog" movie in New York. Biggers, the co-creator of the cartoon Underdog, the mild-mannered shoeshine boy who turned into a caped superhero to rescue his girlfriend, Sweet Polly Purebred, has died, he was 85. Family friend Derek Tague says Biggers, who went by Buck, died unexpectedly at his Plymouth, Mass., home on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. The native of Avondale Estates, Ga., worked for the New York City advertising firm DFS when he accepted an assignment from the agency's largest client, General Mills, to create television cartoons to promote its breakfast cereals. The most famous was Underdog, which debuted on NBC in 1964.

BOSTON—William Watts Biggers, the co-creator of the cartoon "Underdog," the mild-mannered canine shoeshine boy who turned into a caped superhero to rescue his girlfriend, Sweet Polly Purebred, has died. He was 85.

Family friend Derek Tague says Biggers, who went by "Buck," died unexpectedly at his Plymouth, Mass., home on Sunday.

The native of Avondale Estates, Ga., worked for the New York City advertising firm DFS when he accepted an assignment from the agency's largest client, General Mills, to create television cartoons to promote its breakfast cereals. The most famous was "Underdog," which debuted on NBC in 1964.